Wow! That’s how the Indica V2 Xeta impressed me when I first saw her. Ever since, she just grew on to me and I made the right choice of bringing her home.
My first car and that too for a person who learned how to drive while all the decision making and the finances were being worked out. I had made quite a detailed comparison to get to the point that I was getting too much drawn into the numbers, until I took the test drives. In this review, I want to put all these experience in the sequence that I went through in making my choice.
1. Setting the budget and feature set:
With a budget hovering around four lakhs and wanting a mid range petrol variant, my list of desirables were:
a) Power Steering
b) A/C with Heating
c) Power Windows
d) Central Locking
e) Other desirables like Fog Lights, Tail Fin and Audible Alerts etc.
2. The showroom visits:
I had Santro in my mind when I started my car hunt. Yet, as is usual, the first stop happened to be a Maruti showroom where a cordial and rather chatty salesman tried to teach me all about their car details. I checked the Alto, Zen and Wagon R (R stands for Recreation!) Of the three, only Wagon R met my expectation of being roomy besides all the features that I wanted. This sure is a smart car with ample boot space and intelligent folding seats but it seats only four passengers. Overall, the look if this car sucks and so was the price coming out very steep (>4) hence this was almost out of the race.
Next I visited the Tata showroom though I was still quite firm on Santro. Once in the showroom, the Xeta with its imposing beauty and sparkle got me exited. The interiors looked absolutely charming and very roomy. The salesperson, some how, was rather flat. Thus I still made a trip to the Hyundai showroom and checked out the Santro. Good, definitely, though I find their dashboard somewhat tiny and the back seats just about OK. In comparison to XETA, the front grill looks cluttered. Pluses, it has ample headroom and good finish. Mileage, as was told, is around 13~15km/l under city conditions. If you want features like ABS or airbags, the price shoots up considerably! Not so impressive overall when considering my budget.
At this point I started taking driving lessons and drove just about all the small cars in the market that my friends have. The Zen turned out to be a nice and compact machine with very good handling and acceleration. The Santro engine is smooth, you’ll never feel the engine hum. But acceleration is average. Ford Ikon (not in the category) turned out to be the best driving experience that I have had so far! Finally came the Xeta; powerful and responsive, very nice to drive. Yet another plus that went its way.
3. Financing and dealer finalizing:
Bangalore is a costly place to buy a car. The ex-showroom price turned out to be one of the highest. While dealers offer various discounts and schemes, you got to be firm. I picked Prerena as my final choice as they were cordial and patient about explaining things. I took my time and tried the best to get them to offer me more accessories (around 6K.) While these continued, I spoke to ICICI, Kotak Mahindra and Sundaram Finance. SF and KM are a trusted house but were charging a hefty processing fee while my relationship with ICICI came handy in securing the loan. I got a monthly reducing interest rate of 9.5%. Make sure you have all your documents ready and that you’ll need to put some 65 signatures to finalize the deal!
4. Getting the Car:
My car was delivered within 9 days. I chose the GLG variant, Salsa Red colour. The beige interiors are amazing, well organized with white dials. Plastic quality is good and the fabric seats are very comfortable. Some thoughtful touches are the many storage compartments. Got seat covers, car cover and Piranha car security system besides the usual stuff as part of accessories. As I drove out, I realized that this is no ordinary car. Few points that go for it are:
a) It has very good acceleration and braking is also strong.
b) I have heard a lot of complains about the gearbox being chunky, but believe me, this is just as smooth. No problem so far with the reverse gear either!
c) Clutch is definately the best improvement in this car. Extremely smooth and effortless.
d) Power steering is good but not like what one gets on a Maruti.
e) AC is quite nice, though a bit noisy when the fan speed is increased.
f) The engine as such is pretty silent. Depending on the tyre you use, some noise will be there on higher speed. Mine is Goodyear and they seem to be somewhat noisy.
g) On the outside, the paint job is clean unlike what the diesel version might have suffered. Sparkling headlamps and factory fitted tail fin add to its beauty.
h) The build certainly ’feels’ very secure and firm on the road. It has side impact beams and a collapsible steering column for protection but no option to install ABS or Air Bags.
i) Lamps in the boot area and engine compartment; bright and thoughtful.
j) The back seats are foldable. The seats are split in 60:40 ratio. Highly appreciated consideration.
Few things that go against it:
a) Headlamps could have been more powerful, particularly the low beam but it isn’t short of what you’d require.
b) Tyre size is small at 13" though one would love to get 14" or more if you want to push it a bit. Beware, warranty will be void if you upsize your car wheels.
c) At higher gears, the acceleration is not that powerful. The car will happily cruise at a decent speed of 90km/h but beyond that the engine sounds like its strained.
At present I cannot talk much about the milage as its just about 5 days old. Will add that information sometime down the line. Though my feeling so far is that early on it might be low, hovering around 10km/l.
5. Roundup:
Amongst the current crop of small cars, the Xeta has the biggest and most powerful engine. You’ll get good torque at lower gears, which is the best in its class for city driving. Amazing interiors and leg room. Even the looks are the best by virtue of being simple and honest at its design. Tata claims a good milage, let’s see what comes of it. Sure she’s a great buy for what I shelled out, just 3.65 lakhs!
Tata is still improving on its dealer front. You might check out all the ones that you have in your city before making a decision. Finally, be firm about your finances and dont let impulse take over. I waited for a while to read all the reviews and interact, especially the ones here and am very happy about having made a learned purchase.
Planning to go for alloy wheels with tubeless radials and music system. More when I manage that. Till then, guys, just go ahead and make Xeta the car of your choice.
